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Podium finish for the Porsche 919 Hybrid

The Porsche Team celebrated its second podium finish of the season for the Porsche 919 Hybrid, while the sister car finished fourth in the six-hour race at Fuji, Japan.

The fifth out of eight rounds of the FIA Endurance World Championship was a straightforward and dry race. Drivers Timo Bernhard, Brendon Hartley and Mark Webber finished third with car number 20. They were followed by their teammates Romain Dumas, Neel Jani and Marc Lieb in car number 14. Furthermore, Mark Webber set the fastest overall race lap on the 4.563 km long Fuji Speedway (1:27.759 minutes on lap 12).

How the race went for car number 14:

After the battles in the opening laps, Marc Lieb settled into fourth and was then lying third when he handed over the car to Neel Jani after 36 laps. Jani changed tyres after 73 laps and handed over the car to Romain Dumas at the end of lap 110. Dumas stopped for tyres and fuel after lap 147. Also, due to other competitors’ pit stops, the car was in third when Marc Lieb jumped in again for the final stint at the end of lap 184. He came in for another splash-and-dash after 220 laps and brought the car home in P4.

How the race went for car number 20:

Mark Webber was fighting for the lead when he had to come in for an early pit stop after ten laps because of a puncture. Afterwards he did a double stint on a single set of tyres before he handed the car over to Timo Bernhard at the end of lap 84. Bernhard did a double stint as well, but he also changed tyres when refuelling after 122 laps. After lap 160 Brendon Hartley took over driving duties. He had his last stop for fuel and tyres at the end of his 197th lap before bringing it home in third.

Wolfgang Hatz, Member of the Board, Research and Development, Porsche AG: “We have reached the target we set ourselves for this race – we have one car on the podium and we finished the race with both cars. In the beginning we were even strong enough to fight for the lead, and in the end we have secured P3 and P4. This was a nice step forward, and we should continue this way.”

For more comments on the 919 Hybrid and the race in Fuji, please have a look at the press relase ("Download" on the left).

The Porsche 919 Hybrid at the starting line

911 RSR victim of first-corner shunt

Bad luck for the Porsche Team Manthey at the six-hour race in Fuji: The No. 92 Porsche 911 RSR, which won the season opener at Silverstone, lost all its chances for clinching a top spot in the GTE-Pro class shortly after the start on the challenging Grand Prix circuit at the foot of Mount Fuji. Heading into the race from a promising second grid row position, Patrick Pilet (France) became tangled in a collision caused by another competitor, which resulted in major damages to his 911 RSR.

Repairs on the 470 hp GT racer from Weissach, which is based on the seventh generation of the iconic 911 sports car, took a total of seven laps to complete. Re-entering the race at the back of the GT field, Patrick Pilet took up the chase, and in front of over 40,000 fans, he and his compatriot Frédéric Makowiecki saw the flag in sixth place. Jörg Bergmeister (Germany) and Richard Lietz (Austria), competing together for the first time for Porsche Team Manthey in Fuji, planted the sister 911 RSR two positions in front.

Third place in the GTE-Am class

In the GTE-Am class, the Porsche 911 RSR fielded by Prospeed Competition secured third place after a gripping fight to the flag with an all-French driver line-up of Francois Perrodo, Emmanuel Collard and Matthieu Vaxivière. With this achievement, the customer team ensured that the Porsche 911 RSR notched up another podium spot in the fiercely-contested GT classes at the fifth round of the 2014 World Endurance Championship WEC. After the double victory at the Silverstone season-opener, the best-placed 911 RSR run by Porsche Team Manthey finished second at both Spa/Belgium and Austin/USA, and third at the 24 Hours of Le Mans.

For more comments on the 911 RSR and the race in Fuji, please have a look at the press relase ("Download" on the left).